V-E Day 70th Anniversary Commemoration

It is hard to believe that it has been nearly 70 years since millions of people around the globe poured into the streets to celebrate the end of World War II in Europe.

To commemorate this significant date in world history, the Friends of the National World War II Memorial and the National Park Service will co-host a very special V-E Day 70th Anniversary Commemoration on May 8th at 10:30 a.m. at the WWII Memorial.

Former Secretary of State Dr. Madeleine Albright will provide remarks. Born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, Dr. Albright and her family spent the war years in exile in England. Raised Catholic, Dr. Albright did not learn until adulthood that her parents were originally Jewish and that many of her relatives in Czechoslovakia had perished in the Holocaust, including three of her grandparents.

Also taking part in the ceremony will be dozens of World War II veterans and representatives of the United States and the embassies of nearly 30 European Theater Allied Nations who will lay wreaths at the "Freedom Wall" of the Memorial in memory of the more than 400,000 Americans and 60 million people killed worldwide during the deadliest military conflict in human history.

Alex Kershaw, renowned historian and author of "The Bedford Boys: The Story of Bedford, Virginia's Extraordinary D-Day Sacrifice" and "The Liberator: One Soldier's 500-Day Odyssey from the Beaches of Sicily to the Gates of Dachau," will serve as the event's Master of Ceremonies and Expert Historian.

The ceremony will be followed by the "Arsenal of Democracy World War II Victory Capitol Flyover," which will include dozens of World War II aircraft flying in 15 historically sequenced warbird formations overhead. The formations will represent the war's major battles, from Pearl Harbor through the final air assault on Japan, and conclude with a missing man formation to "Taps." The Flyover is set to start at 12:10 p.m. and last approximately 40 minutes.

Click the link below to read an excerpt from "The Liberator, One Soldier's 500-Day Odyssey from the Beaches of Sicily to the Gates of Dachau" by Alex Kershaw and his Bio.